Joint Cyber Security Centre Officially Launched in Sydney

The Australian government has set up a new joint security center in Sydney in a bid to promote collaboration across the state, business and academia.

Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security, Angus Taylor was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of the center, which took place on March 21.

The establishment of the center is a part of Australian government’s $47 million Joint Cyber Security Centre (JCSC) program, which is aimed at bolstering collaboration between more than a hundred organizations in public and private sector including health, finance, energy, education and transport.

Sydney has become the fourth Australian city to house a JCSC center after Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. A center in Adelaide is expected to be launched by the end of this year.

Taylor expressed hope that the newly-established center will help improve country’s cybersecurity systems across industry, government and research.

“This is an important step to enhance Australia’s defensive cyber capabilities,” he said. “The JCSC is a critical hub for business and government to improve their cybersecurity practices and share information in a trusted environment.”

Sydney has become the fourth Australian city to house a JCSC center after Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

The minister said that cybersecurity exercises in JCSC centers are underway in the backdrop of Commonwealth Games 2018, to be held at Gold Coast in Queensland state from April 5 to 15.
“Cybersecurity threats are always evolving, so we need to ensure we have a range of strategies in place to protect our digital borders and get on the offensive against cyber-attacks,” he added.JCSC program is a central initiative of Australian Government’s 2016 Cyber Security Strategy, which facilitates stronger partnerships between the state territory, businesses, research community and Commonwealth agencies.
The increasing number of JCSCs in Australia is closely associated with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), which in its latest annual Threat Report, released in October last year had revealed that malicious cyber-attacks are increasingly targeting private sector IT services providers and IT security firms.